


Pieces of Our Life

by radkoko



Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-14 21:36:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 3,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5759677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radkoko/pseuds/radkoko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompts for the month of January.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <i>Charles was unwrapping the third box within a box, and he felt ready to throw the next one at Erik’s head until he saw what was inside. </i></p>
<p>  <i>Under all the paper and the boxes and the tape, packing tape because Erik was trying to frustrate Charles, was a small velvet box. </i></p>
<p>  <i>Erik pulled the box from Charles with his powers and knelt before his chair.</i></p>
<p>  <i>“Erik, we’re already married…” Charles couldn’t help feeling fond of his husband’s theatrics…sometimes. </i></p>
<p>  <i>“I know, but I wanted to renew our vows. With everything that’s happened this year, I thought-“ Charles leaned over and cut Erik off with a kiss. </i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. For Infinity

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Unopened

Charles was unwrapping the third box within a box, and he felt ready to throw the next one at Erik’s head until he saw what was inside. 

Under all the paper and the boxes and the tape, packing tape because Erik was trying to frustrate Charles, was a small velvet box. 

Erik pulled the box from Charles with his powers and knelt before his chair.

“Erik, we’re already married…” Charles couldn’t help feeling fond of his husband’s theatrics…sometimes. 

“I know, but I wanted to renew our vows. With everything that’s happened this year, I thought-“ Charles leaned over and cut Erik off with a kiss. 

It had been a difficult year, mostly the accident and everything that came with learning how to live all over again. They’d had their fights, some worse than others, ones Charles wasn’t sure they’d recover from, but when Charles needed him, Erik was always there. 

“That sounds wonderful,” Charles admitted as he pulled away from the kiss, but keeping the close distance, “And maybe this time we can do something small without the drama that came with the wedding.“ 

“Agreed.” 

“Now…What’s in the box, I’m wearing my ring, so it can’t be that." 

Erik grinned at Charles sitting back on his heels to show off what was waiting for Charles is the unopened box. 

Inside the box was a pair of two twisted silver strands of metal, Erik floated them towards Charles left hand and with a touch of heat they melded together with the ring on his finger. 

Charles pulling his hand close to look at it, seeing the sets of infinity symbols now gracefully decorating his gold band. 

“It’s beautiful, Darling,” Charles complimented Erik. 

“Just a little reminder that I will love you forever.” Charles smiled and leaned over for another kiss.


	2. Mix Tape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: CD

“Here,” Erik shoved a small case into Charles’ hands before he retreated to the parking lot with a ‘Happy Birthday’ mumbled under his breath. Charles was sure it was the fastest he’d ever seen Erik move, with the exception of when he was competing in Track Meets.

Charles looked down at what was in his hands to see that there was a jeweled CD case with a writable CD sitting in it.

CD were almost old fashioned at this point what with iTunes and music streaming, but each time Charles turned it over in his hands he got more and more excited to see what was on it.

He practically danced around as he waited for the car to pick him up, fidgeting as he watched the trees pass until he could get home to his room where his computer was waiting for just this purpose.

Before the car had even stopped Charles jumped out of the car and raced up to his room, ignoring his mom and Raven who both said something to him. He was too distracted to care, although he was sure it was something like ‘Welcome home’ and ‘How was your day’.

Charles slowed down pulling the CD out of it’s case carefully to avoid scratching it up and slid it into the disk drive waiting for it to open.

He tapped his fingers on his desk as he watched it load into iTunes and started importing the songs.

There were ten songs waiting for him to listen to…

  1. Go Big Or Go Home - American Authors
  2. Animal - Neon Trees
  3. Avalanche - Walk The Moon
  4. Overjoyed - Bastille
  5. Lovers’ Eyes - Mumford and Sons
  6. Alone Together - Fall Out Boy
  7. King and Lionhearted - Of Monsters and Men
  8. Something I Need - OneRepublic
  9. Love Will Save Your Soul - GroupLove
  10. On Top of the World - Imagine Dragons



It was a mix tape…well mix CD? No matter what it was called, Charles was enamored with it. Erik picked out these songs for him, songs that meant something.

Charles listened to the songs for hours, ignoring the calls to dinner and Raven pounding on his door to ensure he was still alive.

Erik… Charles sighed to himself. He’d been in love with Erik for the last two years and he’d never expected anything back from him, but this CD meant something.

Charles pieced together a message from the songs…(with some artistic interpretation)

_I’m going big on this, as they say “Go Big or Go Home”, ‘I kinda wanna be more than friends’. ‘Sometimes you only get one chance… I don’t want to wait to the next life…One look and my heart beat stops.’ ‘I feel overjoyed when you listen to my words…words are all we had.’ ‘Let me die where I lie beneath the curse of my lovers’ eyes.’ ‘Let’s be Alone together, we could stay young forever’ ‘As the world comes to an end, I’ll be here to hold your hand, because you’re my king and I’m your lionheart.’ ‘You got something I need…and if we only die once, I wanna die with you.’ And ‘Love will always save your soul’. So ‘If you Love somebody you better tell them while they’re here.’ I’ve ‘been dreaming of this since a child,’ and ‘I’m on top of the world’ now that I’ve told you how I feel._

Charles smiled at the computer thinking of all the ways he could tell Erik how much this meant to him. How much Erik meant to him.

He spent the rest of the night pulling together songs, scrounging through his room for something to put them onto eventually finding a thumb drive that he could wipe and give to Erik in the morning. It wouldn’t have the same feeling as a CD, but Charles knew he had to respond and he didn’t care if he was up all night to get it together. He could only imagine how long it had taken Erik to pull the CD together for him.

So when morning came Charles waited for Erik at his locker.

“Good Morning!” Charles sounded far more cheerful than he looked; seeing as his last glance in the mirror showed off the dark circles under his eyes from his sleepless night.

“Morning,” Erik replied studying him carefully.

“I wanted to say thank you for the CD.” Charles held out the thumb drive for Erik. “The CD was beautiful.“

Erik started to grab the stick from Charles’ hand, as they both shook just a little.

“I hope you like it,” Charles said smiling for Erik before turning away and heading off to class.


	3. Throwing Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: No more staples

The stapler went careening through the air towards Erik’s head, stopping in the middle of the air as he held his hands up to stop it.

“What was that for?” Erik asked letting the stapler drop to the ground.

“I’m sure you can figure it out yourself,” Charles yelled as he walked away from Erik’s office and back towards his own cubical.

Erik watched him go wondering how the usually sweet and seemingly innocent Charles would be so angry as to throw a stapler at him. He looked at the hunk of metal sprung open on the floor. Picking it up Erik started to put the pieces back together and hoped he could understand what had happened.

As he moved to latch the stapler back together he realize that it was missing staples. So, against his better judgement he filled the stapler and closed the top. Erik hoped that the fixed stapler might get him some points with Charles as he tried to eke out of his boyfriend what it was that he’d fucked up this time.

“Here,” he said placing the stapler on the edge of Charles’ desk. Erik was glad that it was only the two of them having to work late, he wasn’t ready for his coworkers to know his soft side when it came to Charles.

“Thanks,” Charles mumbled, continuing to type up something on his computer and stared at his screen. Erik could tell he didn’t need to be looking at the screen to do his work, but Charles was using it as an excuse to avoid Erik’s face.

“Look, Charles…” Erik tried to call Charles’ attention. Charles flinched a little at his name, faltering in his typing, but went back to work; Erik was going to have to settle with being listened to, but not looked at. “Please, I don’t like you being mad at me…What did I do wrong?“

Charles sighed, though continued to stare at his screen. “What day is it?"

“It’s Tuesday, Charles, why does that matter?"

“What **date** is it?” Charles asked again, emphasizing the changed word in his sentence.

Erik blanched, looking at his phone and realized that even he wanted to strangle himself, “Fuck"

“I see you’ve remembered our anniversary finally.”


	4. Forgetful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Buy Milk

Charles laughed at the note that was sitting on top of his computer. A small little sticky note that had a reminder “Buy Milk”. It was obviously in Erik’s handwriting, but Charles wasn’t sure why Erik had left the note for him. 

Sure, Charles was sometimes forgetful about small things like food when he was in the middle of research, but if it had been that important why hadn’t Erik gotten milk for himself? 

Charles walked through their apartment, realizing that he hadn’t seen Erik in a while. They’d probably just missed each other as Charles spent his days at the lab trying to finish up his experiment and Erik must be somewhere studying or even at work. 

At that moment, Charles’ stomach started to growl. It had been a few hours since he’d last eaten… 

Opening up the fridge Charles looked at the practically bare shelves realizing they needed far more than just milk if he went to the store. 

Really Erik should be more on top of this. Charles left food in Erik’s hands, that was something that had been decided long ago after Charles almost set their dorm room on fire while trying to heat up a bowl of soup. 

Charles looked around again for signs of Erik, but it felt strange to see how devoid of his stuff the apartment was. No shoes, not even his spare loafing around pair. Keys weren’t hanging on the wall. Coat was gone from where it was usually thrown over a kitchen chair. 

It was all very unusual. 

Then it hit Charles, as he rushed back to the fridge where they kept a calendar. There were four x’s over the holiday weekend that Charles had thought was still a few days away, but when he pulled out his phone to check the date he found that he’d missed the whole thing. 

It was already Monday…6 o’clock at night, and Erik had been gone for 3 whole days before Charles had noticed. And he’d thought he was getting better about this. 

There was a jingle of keys and the door swung open to Erik with a small suitcase and a smile. 

“Charles…” Erik called, walking around the corner to where Charles was spaced out staring at the calendar. 

“Hi,” Charles offered in reply. 

“Forgot the milk?” Erik asked with a knowing smile on his face.


	5. Simply the Best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Leftovers

“It really isn’t that big of a deal Charles,” Erik said, popping something into the microwave. 

“Erik, I didn’t realize you were gone for 3 days.“ 

“You’ve done worse,” Erik offered as an attempt to make him feel better, but the words only made it worse. 

“Okay, so there have been other times that I’ve done an even worse job at ignoring you…That’s great,” Charles replied grabbing a pillow from next to him on the couch. He just wanted to scream at himself for being so oblivious. 

“Well here, I think I have something to help cheer you up." 

Charles didn’t want to be cheered up, he was mad at himself. Why wasn’t Erik mad at him too? 

Then he smelt it… 

“Is that what I think it is?” Charles said dropping the pillow to the ground and ready to run into the kitchen where Erik was warming up leftovers. 

Erik appeared next to him and dropped down to the couch with a tupperware container and a fork held out for Charles to take. 

“Of course it is. Do you think my mom would let me come back without leftovers?” Erik smiled for him, “Besides, she knows how much you love kugel, this was made specifically for you." 

Charles dug his fork into the spiced noodles and brought it to his mouth. Edie’s cooking was amazing. There really was no question where Erik had learned it from, but that didn’t mean that it could compete with a home cooked meal from his mom. 

“Please tell your mom, I love her…” Charles mumbled around the food in his mouth. 

“I’m sure she knows by now.”


	6. That's Mine!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: My Charger

“Charles!” Erik yelled as he tore apart their room. 

“What?” Charles asked as he came running in. 

“I’m trying to pack and I can’t find my charger, where is it?“ 

“Are you blaming me? Do you think I took it?” Erik could hear the disbelief in his boyfriend’s voice. 

“Whether you took it or not, I think you can help me find it." 

“Fine." 

The two of them started searching the room, until Erik found a black cord sticking out from the nightstand. 

“Ah hah!” 

“No, that one’s mine,” Charles said grabbing the cord from his hands. 

“Wait a minute, how can you be so sure?” Erik wondered, knowing that their cords had to be practically identical. 

“See this strip of blue?” Erik had to squint to see a faint blue outline that circled around the USB portion of the plug. “That is how I know it’s mine." 

“Really?” Erik was unconvinced. 

“Yes, it was about a week after I got my phone, Raven was over trying to paint her nails and when I got home she was trying to apologize that she’d gotten the cord with some of the nail polish. She of course said she’d been in the bathroom, but I never believed her since I don’t keep my charging cord in the bathroom. Anyway, it’s not like it ruined it, but it’s how I tell mine apart." 

Erik started laughing. He really couldn’t help himself. 

“What is so funny?” Charles asked looking up from his cord to meet Erik’s eyes, but when Erik realized Charles was serious about his story, he started laughing again. 

“It’s mine…” Erik tried to explain when he took a breath. 

“What? I already told you-“ Charles started to tell him again, but Erik cut him off. 

“That cord, the one you think has been yours this whole time, used to be mine.” Erik took a deep breath to clear the laugh still caught in his throat. “I keep my cord in the bathroom because I want the phone close, but not right next to us when we sleep. Raven was probably telling you the truth and somehow I ended up with yours after you took that one from her. 

“But-" 

“We both got our phones around the same time, I’m pretty sure that’s what happened…” Erik paused his thought and walked to the bathroom finding what he was looking for. “Well at least I found it.” He showed the second cord to Charles and then went to shove it into his bag. 

“Now we should probably get going if I don’t want to miss my flight." 

“Right…so does this mean that I should give you back your charger and you should give me back mine?” Charles asked putting the cord in question down on the bed. 

“No, I think you should keep the one you have. It really shouldn’t matter, everything of mine is yours.”


	7. Luxuries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Cable

“Wait, you never had cable before?” Charles asked as they watched the cable guy start to set up their new system. 

“No…” Erik wasn’t always happy to relive his past. 

“But doesn’t everyone have cable?“ 

“No, they don’t Charles. Can we not talk about this now.” Erik felt his face start to heat up when the cable guy glanced back with a questioning look. 

“Really, I could ha-" 

“Charles!” Erik hated himself for yelling, but he can’t stand that his life was not as perfect as Charles’ growing up. 

They stood in near silence for minutes as the cable guy continued to loop cables through their huge entertainment system. There were a lot of things that Erik didn’t have growing up and he was never ashamed of it, until the moment where he was being singled out. It wasn’t the embarrassment of his family not having something, because he knew that they were stronger than the luxuries that many of his peers had, but it was the looks of disappointment and pity that set him on edge. 

“Okay, it should all be set up,” the cable guy said holding the remote out to Erik. 

Erik hesitated to grab the remote, but he could tell the man wanted him to take it. It wasn’t being offered to Charles, it was waiting for him. 

“If it makes it any better, I didn’t have cable as a child either,” the man offered, giving Erik an understanding smile. Erik realized that the questioning look hadn’t been towards him, but towards Charles. 

“Thanks,” Erik said taking the remote and flipping on the TV. 

The man filled out a few papers, holding them out to Charles who signed, and escorted him to the door, thanking him profusely as Charles always did. 

“I’m sorry Erik…” Charles said placing his hand on Erik’s arm. 

“I know.” Erik felt the kiss on his cheek and turned his head to return it.


	8. We have Cookies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: All Gone

“Did you eat the last of the cookies Charles?” Erik yelled through the apartment. 

Charles looked down at the plate near his computer. It was empty. Bitting his lip he tried to remember if he’d really taken the last one. 

Erik came stomping into the room. Charles was scared to turn around and see that look of disappointment when he had to answer his question. 

“Again?” Erik asked, walking closer to Charles’ desk where the empty plate was sitting. 

“I’m sorry, I guess I wasn’t paying attention,” Charles attempted his apology, “They’re just so good I couldn’t help myself.“ 

“Well that’s obvious, since the first time I go looking for one they were all gone." 

“That can’t be, I saw you have some just the other night,” Charles turned his chair away from his desk to finally look at Erik. 

Erik lips were traced into a thin frown, “I don’t think you’re going to get away with that excuse again." 

“It’s not an excuse." 

“Charles…” Erik started as he kneeled down next to Charles’ chair, “I only made these cookies this morning. You ate the entire batch by yourself." 

“That’s not possible." 

Erik’s frown broke out into a smile, as if he couldn’t hold back his enjoyment any longer. 

“Really now, I beg to differ.” Erik’s hands found their way to Charles’ side and started tickling him through his shirt. 

“Stop it,” Charles said feeling the fingers ruck up his sweater and find their way underneath. The sensation of Erik’s fingers on his skin started Charles wiggling to get away from them, but he was trapped. 

“Really, I don’t like being tickled…” Charles tried to profess through his laughs and squeals when it got to be too much. 

“Too bad,” Erik said as he leaned in to give Charles a kiss, “Don’t eat all my cookies next time.”


	9. Something to Look Forward To

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Goals

“Here, I found this in the attic when we were cleaning up,” Erik grabbed the notebook that his mother was holding out to him.

Opening it up Erik found that the notebook was empty, “Mama?” he asked after he closed it.

“Look again,” she said with a huge smile on her face.

When Erik went back through the pages with more scrutiny he found one page with something small written on it, and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

After closing the notebook he looked back at his mom, “Thanks.“

 

* * *

 

“I’m home,” Erik called out through their apartment.

“Hello, Darling,” Charles called out from the couch where he was sitting surrounded by books and his laptop open with a dozen more pages opened.

Erik leaned over the back of the couch to give him a kiss.

“How are your parents,” Charles asked putting his laptop down to give Erik his full attention.

“They’re great. Actually mom found something and gave it to me. I thought you might find it interesting.” Erik held out the bright colored notebook. It had his name on it and was marked with the name of their third grade teacher.

“I remember her…you never wanted to do the work for her class,” Charles noted as he started to flip through the pages of the notebook. He held the empty pages up to Erik as proof of what he’d said.

Charles seemed to be confused as he continued to flip through the pages, “Erik, it’s empty…"

“Not quite.” Leaning over again, Erik flipped back two pages and pointed out one page that had writing on it.

“My Goals…” Charles read.

Erik could tell he was reading ahead, so he said them out-loud with Charles. “One day I want to… 1. Rule the World, and 2. Marry Charles Xavier."

“Well, at least you can say that you’ve accomplished one of them,” Charles said resting his hand on Erik’s cheek. Erik could feel the soft polished metal that sat on his ring finger, warmed up by his body heat.

“If I do say so, it was the best goal I’ve ever aspired for.”


	10. Better Ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Exercise

“Erik, slow down…” Charles panted out as he slowed to a stop. 

“Are you okay?” Erik asked jogging back to where Charles was ready to keel over on the ground. 

Yes he’d asked Erik if he could join his morning runs, but Charles wasn’t quite in shape enough to keep up with Erik for this length of time. 

“I’m…I’m,” Charles couldn’t get enough air into his lungs to answer Erik’s question. 

“Why don’t we get you inside,” Erik said wrapping an arm around Charles’ middle and pulling him up right. “Besides you should be standing up, you have more area to expand your lungs if you aren’t crunched over in the middle.“ 

“Right,” Charles mumbled. He knew that, but there was something about trying to breathe after a run that made his body decide on it’s own. 

Erik helped Charles back inside the mansion and into the kitchen. “Here, but drink slowly.” Erik placed a glass of water in front of Charles. A hand slid down his back with another attempt to get him standing up straight. 

Charles took in a deep breath of air and then sipped at the water. 

“So why did you want to go running with me anyway?” Erik asked sitting down at one of the barstools next to Charles. 

“I don’t know, I just felt like I should be doing something." 

“Something, Charles?” Erik looked at him with those steely eyes as if he could see right through him, “You are doing far more than something around here. You’re teaching these mutants how to use their powers. It’s important work." 

“I know,” Charles groaned, “I guess I just felt inadequate." 

“How?" 

“Never mind.” Charles could never explain what he felt. It was hard enough trying to figure it out on his own. 

They sat there in silence, with only the sounds of Charles drinking down the water in front of him. None of the kids would be up for hours, still young enough to value their sleep. They may have been frightened by Shaw, but they hadn’t seen the horrors Erik had been through. Charles had seen them all and Erik had lived through it. Charles was surprised that Erik ever slept. 

“Hey, what are you thinking about now?” Erik asked pushing Charles’ matted and sweat soaked hair out of his face. 

Charles looked at Erik, unable to resist the care and devotion that came through his eyes. 

“Just about how there are far more fun ways to exercise with you.”


End file.
